Trinity and the Kingdom : The Doctrine of God

In The Trinity and the Kingdom, Jurgen Moltmann offers a complex and thorough examination of the Christian doctrine of God as Trinity. His aim is to reveal what the implications of this doctrine are for understanding God’s sovereignty and God’s Church. The author acknowledges that, for many Christians, debates about how one God exists in Three Persons seem like exercises for theological specialists that have nothing to do with the experience and practice of faith. Though this volume is written more for such specialists than the average Jesus-follower, Moltmann argues convincingly in it for a social doctrine of the Trinity which informs both the basic nature of God and what it means for a human being to be fully alive and free.

Moltmann painstakingly lays out the inner relationship between God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. This is not an immovable Trinity; there is both unity and movement toward each Other and the creation in this Divine Life. In this eternal perichoresis or “dance” of suffering love, the Triune God "saves" the whole creation (not just people) by gathering it into the joy, life, and unity of this dance. The Church’s mission is to act as visible dance partners offering invitation and welcome.